The Setlist:
Head Honcho
DeVotchKa!
Queen of the Surface Streets
Basso Profundo
Along the Way
Curse your little Heart
Venus in Furs (Velvet Underground Cover)
C’est ce la
We’re leaving
The Clockwise Witness
How it ends
I cried like a silly Boy (Ted Thacker Cover)
The Enemy Guns
The last Beat of my Heart (Siouxsie & The Banshees Cover)
Undone
Such a lovely Thing

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14/08/2005:
WOVEN HAND – Vienna (B72)

On this day I saw one of the best performances EVER! Woven Hand played in Vienna at the B72 (a very tiny location) an intense set – still get the creeps while thinking of this show!

First of all I must admit, that I really HATE festivals. Why? Well, too many people on a place which is always too small. And finally there are always too many bands which are in most cases not really interesting. Secondly, I’m not that big fan of Neil Young’s music. I really love some of his songs, and I own some albums on vinyl and CD of course, but I would not call me a “Neil Young fan” really. Anyway – as I missed the last Neil Young show in Austria (22nd February 2008 at the Austria Center in Vienna) I have to forget all my bad thoughts about festivals, because this show was INCREDIBLE and AMAZING! A friend of mine was there and he told me, that it was one of the best shows ever he saw in his entire life. Even the press was VERY IMPRESSED about the show in Vienna. So I have to see Neil Young this time in Wiesen (a small village – one hour drive with the car from Vienna) at the one day festival called “Lovely Day Festival”. You want to know the other bands, which played before Mr. Neil Young gave us the creeps? Okay – but don’t say that I didn’t warn you – so here we go: Hans Theesink (an Austrian Blues musician with Dutch origin – not really that bad), Wishbone Ash (yes, they’re still alive!), Adam Green and The Waterboys. Enough said about this weird line up, I do think.

We waited until The Waterboys started their encore and so we head into this huge tent and tried to get a good place. By jostling through the people I was VERY AFRAID about the sound! The Waterboys were fuckin’ loud and my ears ached a lot after a few seconds! I thought: “Hey, what the hell will be, when Neil Young “works” on his electric guitar?” So I decided to put my ear plugs in. After The Waterboys left the stage, the roadies came on stage and built a lot of receivers and other electric stuff (many microphones, which were fixed at the back of the stage) up on the scene. Now I was sure, that this will be a FUCKIN’ LOUD AND HEAVY show! After the roadies finished their work, the light went out and Mr. Neil Young entered the stage.

He grabbed his guitar and started “Love and only Love”. Carefully I took my ear plugs out and what I heard was simply FANTASTIC! The sound was crystal clear, not too loud, not too heavy – it was PERFECT! Even the feedbacks were on the right level! The song endured approximately nine minutes and it was not a second too long. After the first notes of the classic “Hey Hey, My My” the crowd went nuts and cheered loudly. Needless to say that they sang the refrains with Neil Young. “Everybody knows this is Nowhere” from the masterpiece of the same name (released in 1969) was the next song of the night. And for everybody, who didn’t know the song titles, Mr. Young helped them with some paintings, which were set up by a Roadie between the tracks. Not to every song, but to the most of them the Canadian “Godfather of the Grunge” created a picture. Then “Powderfinger” (featuring Pegi Young and Anthony Crawford as backing singers) followed.

After that, Neil said: ”Thanks for coming everybody! We appreciate it. Hope you have a good time!” and an amazing version of “Spirit Road” (from the album “Chrome Dreams II”) gave me the creeps again. I thought to myself: “Wow – this was the highlight of the night, I guess!”. But fortunately I was wrong. Already the next was on the setlist: The over ten minutes long version of “Cortez the Killer” hit the whole crowd like a hammer. But this was not enough for the moment! For “Fuckin’ up” all people shouted with Neil: “Why do I keep fuckin’ up!” So, over 50 minutes were played, and although some bad drunks annoyed me from time to time (thanks guys for pushing all the time when I tried to make some photos!), I enjoyed the concert completely. Mr. Neil Young changed the guitars and so it was obvious, that some acoustic songs will be the next ones.

By hearing “Helpless”, the wonderful “Mother Earth” (for this song Neil played the organ) and “The Needle and the Damage done” my eyes became wet again. During “Unknown Legend” the drunken boys beside me sang EVERY WORD with Neil. So I forgave them for their wild behaviour, because it seems, that they were real fans, but badly drunken. But I was sure, that they will get tired before the encore because of the booze – and ten minutes later I was completely right. Anyway – Neil introduced the band: Anthony Crawford (Guitar), “my lovely wife” Pegi Young (Vocals and Piano), Chad Cromwell (Drums), Rick Rosas (Bass), “my old friend for manymany years, Mr. Ben Keith” (Pedal Steel Guitar, Slide Guitar, Guitar, Organ, Vocals).

Then the people sang with Neil his timeless songs “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man” (featuring Larry Cragg on the Banjo). So the acoustic set was closed and so Neil grabbed his black Gibson for “Get back to the Country”. “Just singing a Song won’t change the World” followed, before Mr. Neil Young hit the pace with “See Change”. Some feedbacks headed in the next song, which would be approximately 13 minutes long: “Cowgirl in the Sand” with a lot of solos – what a version! This one blew me straight away. But there was enough space for more Rock’n’Roll: “Rockin’ in the free World” closed the set with full force and almost everybody was shouting, hopping and singing! This was real magic and Mr. Neil Young was the magician of the night with the right spell. Words can’t describe such situations – you have to be there and FEEL it. A wild feedback orgy closed the song and afterwards Neil, Pegi and the boys said goodbye. During the encore break the letters N, E, I and L lightened up the night in a dark red and after three minutes of shouting, cheering, clapping and hopping the band returned for a real surprise: “I read the news today, oh boy. About a lucky man who made the grade”, Neil sang. The Beatles song “A Day in the Life” was the last song of the concert and this version was also outstanding and heavy. Neil finished this cover with another feedback orgy and he nearly destroyed his guitar: All strings were broke at the end before he and the band left the stage finally.

The Setlist:

Love And Only Love
Hey Hey,My My
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Powderfinger
Spirit Road
Cortez The Killer
Fuckin Up
Helpless
Mother Earth
The Needle And The Damage Done
Unknown Legend
Heart Of Gold
Old Man
Get Back To The Country
Just Singing A Song Wont Change The World
See Change
Cowgirl In The Sand
Rockin In The Free World
A Day In The Life (Beatles Cover)

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What can I say? This concert was one of the best I’ve seen. And in this case, it was one of THESE nights, when everything is just perfect: The atmosphere, setlist, band, weather etc. As I already said in my review: Words can’t describe such magic situations – you have to be there. So – see you at the next Neil Young show in Austria!